Trucking companies face driver shortages

Tuesday

Finding truck drivers is becoming a challenge in Savannah and around the country.

Trucking companies cite economic growth, low unemployment rates and a changing workforce as some factors helping to create the shortage.

Stephanie Wagner, terminal manager for Ace Drayage in Savannah, said the shortage has started to show.

“It is a problem,” Wagner said. “Over the last year we started seeing a big difference in how many people were coming in to apply.”

The biggest drop in applicants is from drivers willing to go out on the road longer than one day, Wagner said.

“Those drivers are getting harder to find,” Wagner said. “We just don’t see a lot of new drivers coming in.”

Wagner said in addition to a smaller pool of applicants, there are barriers that keep some potential drivers out of the business.

“Our drivers have to have a year and a half of experience,” Wagner said. “Our insurance requires it.”

Many just are not cut out for getting that experience, she said.

“They’ll need to go work for a big company like Swift or J.B. Hunt,” Wagner said. That can mean nights spent in a truck out on the road with a fellow driver.

“A lot of people just can’t stand it,” Wagner said. “It’s not easy.”

Paper Transport Inc., in Pooler is hiring new and experienced drivers, vice president Ben Schill said.

To find drivers in what Schill said is an “extremely competitive environment,” the Wisconsin-based company announced last week its second driver pay raise in six months.

“Driver wages have not kept up,” Schill said.

Schill said PTI has been in Pooler for about a year. Now with 15 drivers, he is hoping to grow to a workforce of 50.

In addition to pay raises, PTI is increasing vacation time and offering it in a driver’s first year.

Schill said his company is also seeing a change in applicants.

“They are demanding a job where they are home every day,” Schill said.

Schill said the company is using “creative models” to fit the needs of employees, including split routes.

One example, he said, is two drivers each driving half of a 500-mile route.

Wages for long-haul drivers will rise faster than those taking the short routes, Schill added.

“Those (long-haul jobs) could pay $80,000 to $90,000.”

Trucking careers

“People see it as an obsolete or dying career,” Wagner said.

Wagner said many young people are convinced driverless trucks will replace them.

Tom Amacher, who leads the commercial driving program at Savannah Technical College, said he hears the same thing.

“They do believe electronic (driverless) trucks will take over,” Amacher said. “But that isn’t close to happening in our lifetime.”

Amacher said he hasn’t seen a drop, however, in the number of students taking CDL classes at the Effingham County and Liberty County campuses.

“We are putting them out as fast as we can,” Amacher said. “Even with us and other schools it’s not meeting the need — and it’s not just here, it’s nationwide.”

The American Trucking Association's senior vice-president, Bob Costello, has said the shortage of drivers could reach 175,000 by 2026.

Amacher attributes the steady stream of students to a lack of private CDL schools in the area and location.

“There’s always an interest in Savannah,” Amacher said.

Amacher said the shortages are "kind of scary."

"We are wearing out and looking for retirement," Amacher said.

Wagner said at Ace they are also seeing an increasing demand.

“I see more people calling and offering to pay a premium to get immediate delivery,” Wagner said. “You have to be really careful to not overbook yourself.”

Wagner said the biggest issue for some of the drivers has been the Electronic Logging Device mandate.

“You take someone that doesn’t even know how to use a computer and require them to use (ELDs) — that is a problem for some,” Wagner said.

Wagner said some drivers changed careers instead of using the devices.

The technology replaces paper log books that drivers have been using for decades. The equipment automatically records the date, time, truck location, engine hours, vehicle miles, name of the driver, vehicle information and carrier.

The ELD requirement is part of legislation passed in 2012.

By December, all who are required to log hours of service must have ELDs.

Wagner said she thinks experienced drivers who changed jobs because of the ELDs could be brought back.

"I think in the short term, classes could be created on ELDs for them," Wagner said.

Beyond classes, the answer so far is more money for drivers, Wagner said.

“The rates have to go up,” Wagner said. “We are all going to pay more.”

Amacher has an additional idea: Hollywood.

"Hollywood should go back to making some movies like ‘Convoy’ and ‘Smokey and the Bandit,’" Amacher said. "Those movies made me want to be a truck driver."

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